THE WAY TO TUSKEGEE, ALABAMA
Future Tuskegee Airmen training at the Tuskegee Institute
From Double V: The Civil Rights Struggle of the Tuskegee Airmen/
There were many hard steps taken to get to the point in history where African Americans could fly. During the thirties, blacks were struggling as American citizens. But they gained many characteristics to survive during this time. These hard times, "developed men and women of character and daring, individuals who pushed at life's outer seams and frontiers to achieve freedom" (Scott and Womack, 35). This was definitely true for those who wanted to fly.
During this time, many African Americans were showing off their talents as pilots and parachutists in front of the Negro crowd. The two men who were first responsible for teaching aviation to Negroes were J. Herman Banning and William Powell. They established the first Negro Aero Club in 1929 in Los Angeles. The Aero Club "assisted members in acquiring flight instruction and the necessary flight time to qualify for a pilot's license" (36). The pilots also performed shows for both white and integrated audiences. The club was to increase the interest among the black youth in Los Angeles and many kids were eager to join.
John Robinson came to Chicago to pursue a career in motorcycle and auto mechanics. He received a vocational degree from Tuskegee Institute. Coffey owned repair shops in Detroit and wanted to expand to Chicago. The two met and together decided to attend flying school. But they had a hard time being admitted into one. So they secured their pilot licenses on their own by working for the airport in exchange for using the airport runway to practice with the plane they had already built themselves. Curtis-Wright flying school admitted the two but when they arrived, the school officials said a mistake had been made on their admittance papers. But after several meetings, it was agreed that they would be allowed back in and they completed the course in two years at the top of their class. The two men also convinced the headmaster to open the school to thirty-five Negro students. Students from China were also sent to Curtis-Wright taught by Robinson after an attack on Manchuria. These students would later become part of the Chinese Royal Air Force to defend against Japanese aggression, which continuously occurred in the thirties.
Coffey and Robinson then opened the Brown Eagle Aero Club, which would later be called the Challengers Air Pilots Association. Their club became popular and the two men set their sights on expanding their program. They decided to ask the Tuskegee Institute because of their strong program in auto mechanics and welding and the Institute also owned enough acreage for an airport. But their plans were rejected. Robinson and Coffey then entered into the Air Reserve but faced many setbacks. In the1937 Mobilization Plan, the War Department called for an increase in quota of African Americans in the army. In 1940, Tuskegee was again a possible sit for the "training center for advanced civilian pilot training for Negroes" (Scott and Womack126). Tuskegee Institute This would be an "experiment" and the Tuskegee Institute was already a training site for the advanced CPTP (Civil Pilot Training Program) training and it had a high chance to be selected as the site for the Air Corps' Negro Unit. Once again, Tuskegee was abandoned because of the lack of resources for mechanical training. The Air Corp also decided to "designate the Negro flying unit as a pursuit squadron"-the most difficult form of flying-and put them under white officers (139). Finally in December 1940, the Air Corps had selected Tuskegee Institute for the new Negro Air Corps unit training site.
The Civil Pilots Training Act was passed, creating a "reserve pool of civilian pilots to be called on in the even of a national emergency" (Carter 10). Public Law 18 was also passed, providing for a large-scale expansion of the Army Air Corps "by selecting civilian contract schools to operate preflight and primary flight training on or near their campuses" (10). In 1940, the Selective Service and Training Act was passed, specifying there would be "no discrimination in drafting and training of military inductees because or race or color" (10).
African-American History
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